Women's National Team

The Swiss women’s national team finished in second place at the Mont Blanc-Cup in Albertville. The team won three out of their six games. They defeated Slovakia twice and won one game against France.

Photo Frauennati.ch

Head coach Daniela Diaz stated before the tournament that she would use the one-week tournament for extensive testing. For this purpose, she invited four rookies and eight U18 players and did not include regular players such as Florence Schelling, Phoebe Staenz and Anja Stiefel in her roster. Moreover, only a handful of players suited up for all six games. Consequently, there was a ”new“ lineup in almost every game.

Daniela Diaz was satisfied with their result: “The tournament showed us the individual strengths. We are on the right track to achieve our main goals and we can go even further.”

The Swiss won three of their six games in convincing fashion ( a 12-1 and a 7-1 victory over Slovakia and a 5-1 win against France). However, the two narrow losses against Japan, whose best players came to Albertville, might sting. Just a few months ago, Switzerland won three games against Japan at the World Championship in Burlington and, consequently, sent the Japanese to the relegation to Division 1.

The next cornerstone on their way to the Qualification Tournament for the Olympic games, which will take place in Arosa in February of 2017, is the four nations tournament in Füssen in November. There, they will face even stronger opponents: Czechia, Germany, and Russia. (dmo/bsc)